Endangered China tigers on decline

SHANGHAI, China (AP) - A new survey has found as few as 15 Siberian
tigers are left in the wild in China, state newspapers said Tuesday.
The number was dramatically lower than earlier estimates that as many
as 100 of the endangered cats lived in the wild. News reports blamed
a deteriorating environment, but tigers also are hunted illegally by
Chinese for bones and body parts used in traditional medicines. The
survey was done by Chinese, Russian and U.S. researchers from Jan. 16
to late March in the main Siberian tiger habitats in the northeastern
provinces of Heilongjiang and Jilin, the China Daily newspaper said.
It indicated there were about 10 tigers in Jilin, with five to eight
in Heilongjiang. About 100 Siberian tigers live in Chinese zoos and
animal parks, which are trying to breed them to increase population.

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Logging in Tongass to be limited

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Clinton administration is placing an additional
234,000 acres in the nation's largest national forest off limits to
logging and other development. The maximum allowable timber harvest
in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska will be cut by 30% a year,
and land open to logging will be reduced by 15% to about 576,000
acres, according to changes in the forest's management plan that were
to be announced Wednesday. Under the changes, nearly half of the land
that may be used for logging can be harvested only once every 200
years, instead of once every 100 years as is currently allowed. The
changes are intended to increase protections for ancient trees in the
17 million-acre forest and help protect species such as the Sitka
black-tailed deer and Alexander Archipelago wolf.

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Congress embraces land conservation

WASHINGTON (AP) - A billion-dollar land rush is under way in
Congress, with both political parties saying they want to preserve
open spaces, protect wildlife and set aside environmentally sensitive
places. But the details are very much in dispute. Environmentalists
and their Democratic allies want the bulk of funds to go for new
parkland, suburban green spaces and wildlife protection. Most
Republicans are backing a proposal to funnel money into coastal
states with offshore oil drilling. Despite the differences, never
before have lawmakers, liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans
alike, been as gung-ho to spend money for land conservation - as much
as $2.6 billion a year under one proposal.

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Update: New fishing restrictions announced

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Clinton administration unveiled new Atlantic
and Gulf Coast fishing restrictions Monday aimed at rebuilding stocks
of shark, Atlantic tuna and marlin. Environmentalists said it would
be too little to stem the severe decline of swordfish. Years of
overfishing has resulted in so huge a drop in the number of Atlantic
migratory fish that some species of shark, swordfish and blue marlin
may soon be near to extinction, conservationists said. The National
Marine Fisheries Service unveiled a broad plan the agency said would
accommodate the interests of fishermen, yet move toward bringing back
the fish populations over the next 10 to 20 years

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Gov't to relax 'dolphin-safe' rules

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Clinton administration has decided to relax
requirements for using the "dolphin safe" label on cans of tuna,
government sources said Wednesday. The Commerce Department has found
"insufficient evidence" the practice of fishing for tuna by using
large, encircling nets has a "significant impact" on the dolphin
population, the officials said. For nearly a decade the "dolphin
safe" label has been allowed only on tuna caught by methods other
than encirclement because of concern about dolphin fatalities.
Controversy on dolphin safe label

Federal officials said Thursday a new standard for
the decade-long "dolphin safe" label on cans of tuna will help spur
international efforts to protect dolphins. Critics insisted more
dolphins will be killed. The Commerce Department issued a new
standard Thursday allowing the use of the "dolphin safe" label on
tuna caught with huge encircling nets. Historically these nets also
have ensnarled many dolphins. Supporters of the change said it will
help international efforts to protect dolphin and other marine life,
but critics said the new standard will lead to more dolphins being
killed as they get caught in tuna nets.Dolphin and yellowfin tuna often swim together in eastern Pacific
waters. The Commerce Department will announce Thursday tuna caught by
encirclement may in the future carry the "dolphin safe" label under
provisions of a law enacted two years ago.

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New Earth Day tips offered

WASHINGTON (AP) - Thursday was Earth Day. So what should people do to
help the environment? Not necessarily what they have been told,
according to a new guide to a greener world. The word from two
environmentalists is not fret over whether to use plastic or paper
bags, cloth or disposal diapers, or those convenient disposable
plastic foam cups and plates that caused such a stir a few years ago.
The impact is not all that much anyway, say the authors of "The
Consumer Guide to Effective Environmental Choices." The answer to a
better environment, argue Warren Leon and Michael Brower, lies
elsewhere: what you eat, what you drive and the kind of house you
buy.

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Lynx reintroduced to Colorado

CREEDE, Colo. (AP) - After an hour of skimming the 14,000-foot peaks
of the San Juan Mountains, pilot Whitey Wannemacher wondered aloud in
his small plane, "Where is everybody today?" On this six-hour mission
to track the 37 lynx transplanted here from Canada and Alaska,
research assistant Chris Parmeter heard only four telltale tracking
beeps, grabbing his clipboard each time to note an animal's location
and number. In ways, the silence can be heartening, telling the state
Division of Wildlife workers that the reintroduction of the lynx to
the mountain wilderness could be paying off with the elusive cats
dispersing and adapting to their new homes. Faster beeps would signal
a cat had succumbed.

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Biologists find Georgia cave critters

CLIMAX, Ga. (AP) - Climax Cave's dark, jagged mouth sits at the
bottom of a 65-foot depression hewn from limestone by rainwater over
eons. It's a sizable feat to reach it. Visitors clamber down steep
banks littered with uprooted trees and leaves. One false step could
mean a dangerous tumble. Biologists are willing to make the journey
to Climax Cave and about 200 other caves in Georgia. They hope to
identify species, assess the condition of the caves and develop a
plan for protecting the delicate and sensitive ecosystems. During a
six-hour visit to Climax Cave the biologists discovered the rare
Georgia blind salamander, known to live at only two locations. They
also found the Dougherty Plain crayfish and the Southeastern myotis
bat, both rare and in need of preservation.

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Crocodile numbers up in Southern Florida

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - The endangered American crocodile
appears to have made a strong comeback in the past two decades,
nesting in parts of Florida's Biscayne Bay for the first time this
century, researchers say. The crocodile was declared an endangered
species in 1975 when its population dwindled to 20 nesting females,
all of them in a 20-square-mile area in Miami-Dade County and the
Keys. But University of Florida biologists announced Monday that they
have seen more than 100 crocodiles and two nests over the past three
years.

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